State indicators

Mexican coral species threatened or endangered

The paucity of data on the state of the flora and fauna species populations inhabiting a given country or region, lists of threatened and endangered species have often been used, by government agencies, international organizations and NGOs, as indicators of the state of biodiversity. Under this scheme, threatened and endangered species represent the actual or potential loss of the country’s or region’s biodiversity (GESAMP, 1995; UNCSD, 1995). The indicator Mexican coral species threatened or endangered, may thus reflect the conservation state of the country’s coral species. The use of the number of threatened species is widely recommended by international organizations (e. g., ONU, 2007 and OECD, 2008) and government environmental agencies of many countries, including Mexico.